Blitzen Trapper travels cross-country to next gig

The Portland, Ore., band will play at Mojo’s on St. Patrick’s Day.

By Lindsay Eanet

Published March 14, 2008

The people of Columbia owe a bit of a debt to Blitzen Trapper. After all, in one of the video shorts on the band’s Web site, one member pays respect to CoMO and MU by wearing a “Mizzou Swimming” T-shirt.

The band is on the road and has been driving for hours, touring in the wake of its 2007 release, Wild Mountain Nation. The album’s title track and first single, a back-to-nature nomad epic, has garnered comparisons to everyone from Beck to the Grateful Dead.

“It’s a country that exists in everybody’s heart,” keyboardist Marty Marquis said. “You just have to want to be there. There’s no actual physical location for the Wild Mountain Nation. It’s just wherever we want to make it.”

And for the band, one of those places is Portland, Ore., where the band formed out of a love of the emerging Pacific Northwest music scene.

“When we were all coming up in high school, the Seattle music scene was blowing up,” Marquis said. “So that impacted where we’re coming from, because it created a lot of clubs and places to play and a lot of excitement. The Northwest has a lot of interesting places outdoors, and you can hear that in the lyrics of ‘Wild Mountain Nation.’ It’s kind of an out-of-the-way part of the country, so you feel like you can do what you want to do, because you’re kind of isolated from the rest of the states.”

The band is on its way to the Langerado Music Festival in Big Cypress, Fla. The band has a gig in Tallahassee on Friday night and will drive all night afterward to make its festival appearance.

“We’re used to it by now,” Marquis said. “I think crossing Texas is the big hurdle for a lot of people. And we made it through Texas. For now, we’re doing pretty good. We all get along pretty well.”

Marquis said the eclectic choice of music played during the drive has helped as well.

“Just now, we were listening to some classical stuff and some quartets from Ravel and Debussy,” Marquis said. “And then Aqualung by Jethro Tull, and I was just about to change that up.”

Overall though, Marquis said the band has been enjoying the time on the road.

“It’s going really well,” Marquis said. “Especially on the West Coast. We played some great shows. We’re on tour with a band called Fleet Foxes, and they’re really great musicians. I’ve never seen a band that can do such great vocal harmonies live.”

Not all the experiences on the West Coast were wonderful.

“In Phoenix, this guy was completely wasted and got up on stage with us a couple different times during the set,” Marquis said. “He rushed the microphone and started singing, and we had to kick him off the stage.”

Marquis said the band has enjoyed the opportunity to drive across the country and take in the nature.

“One of the highlights for sure is just seeing the country,” Marquis said. “You drive through California and across the desert, and it’s just really beautiful country. It’s nice to just play music playing for people who are into what you’re doing.”

The band will make its Columbia appearance at Mojo’s on St. Patrick’s Day.

“We’ll have to tip back some Guinness or something,” Marquis said. “I’m sure we’ll be ready for whatever’s going on. But it’s hard to know what a town has to offer when you get into it.”